Epilogue 3

Months had passed since our adventure. I was only allowed out of the house for school. My hopes were high that someday soon I’d be released from my punishment. Deli had been away with the elves. She couldn’t tell us what it was about, but she assured us that she’d be back soon. Soy and I didn’t say it out loud, but neither of us could wait to see her again.

I was sitting in class drawing again, listening to another lecture from Miss Weaver.

“The first capital of the United States was actually Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Speaking of which, did I ever tell you that the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles was actually a former student of mine?” she began to repeat.

Ever since we visited Pavidale a second time, my daydreams were all about clouds. Some of the time I would doodle the inside of a cloud with lore, like Pavidale, but different. It was somewhere that seemed even farther away. Most times I would draw the inside of a single dark cloud. Every time I did, the inside was a bit different. Structures appeared where there didn’t used to be anything, and little by little it seemed to look more… organized.

That’s when a small ball of paper landed on my desk. Then another hit the right side of my face. I looked across my row and saw Soy staring at me.

“What?” I mouthed.“Low cow hair,” he mouthed back.“What?” I said with a shake of my head.“Look. Out. There.” he mouthed again, pointing to the window next to me.

There was a squirrel sitting on the windowsill. It might be nothing, I thought. Squirrels run around the yard all the time. But, there was no mistaking it, this squirrel was staring inside the classroom, right at me.

What were the odds that this could be happening again? Still, I thought to myself that it probably didn’t mean anything. Until I saw its watch.